Have you ever heard the statement, “Truth is fact, but perception is reality.”? It’s the perception part that often gets in our way.

What you think most often, becomes your reality. Your thoughts create your belief system—whether that thought is accurate and true or not. Those beliefs you generate will then spread throughout your life.

Your train of thought, doesn’t depend on if the focus of those thoughts are objectively true or not. What you ongoingly tell yourself, becomes real for you.

Your beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Dr. Henry Beecher of Harvard Medical School proved that the brain has the ability to override the effects of drugs. Over the years, he’s shown that the power of one’s beliefs are absolutely crucial to healing and health. He spent much of his career studying this and how we can make our beliefs come alive and use them to heal ourselves and to have medicine work better.

One experiment that Dr. Beecher did was with 100 student volunteers. He had them take two test drugs. One drug was in a red capsule, the other was in a blue. The students were told the red capsules were a super stimulant that was very powerful. The students were told, when you take this red capsule, it’s going to wire you right up. The other drug in the blue capsules, were said to be a tranquilizer that would rapidly make you feel sleepy, relaxed, and would slow your body functions down.

Actually, the truth of it was that they were reversed. The red capsule was actually a strong barbiturate and the blue capsule had amphetamine in it. But the interesting thing that Dr. Beecher noted, was that the students reacted as they thought these things were supposed to be, not as they actually were.

In other words, the red capsule which they had been told was a stimulant, was actually a barbiturate. When the students took it, they felt hyper, they felt up, their heart rate increased, their feeling of energy went up, and their brain waves got more excited.

When they took the blue, which they were told was a tranquilizer but was actually an amphetamine; they reacted to it as if it really was a tranquilizer. What happened was their heart slowed down, their body sensations diminished, their brain waves slowed down, and they felt more relaxed and tired. Their bodies aligned with their beliefs, not with the drug that they took. Incredible.

In the same way, if you want greater success, better relationships, improved health, more happiness, whatever—you need to align your beliefs with what you want. Focus your thoughts, reinforce that thought stream daily, and you will build a belief system of power that will carry you to your desired destination.